Cambridge University Botanic Garden (CUBG) will welcome delegates from across Europe this May, as it hosts a meeting of the European Botanic Gardens Consortium, bringing together leading gardens to share ideas, expertise and solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing plants and people.
The Consortium helps strengthen collaboration between botanic gardens across Europe, supporting plant conservation, scientific research, education and the sharing of best practice. By working together, member gardens can have a greater collective impact in protecting plant diversity and responding to environmental change.
“Botanic gardens have never been more important as centres for conservation, research and public engagement for people to learn and discover more about plants.”
CUBG’s Curator Professor Sam Brockington says: “Botanic gardens have never been more important as centres for conservation, research and public engagement for people to learn and discover more about plants. We are delighted to be part of this amazing network and to welcome our partners and colleagues from across Europe to Cambridge, to share knowledge, strengthen partnerships and work together on the urgent challenges. A particular focus of this year’s meeting will be the development of the global data ecosystem for the world’s living plant collections.”
The meeting at Cambridge will include a programme of short presentations from gardens across Europe, showcasing projects ranging from seed banking and habitat restoration to public engagement, education programmes and the conservation of threatened species. Delegates from over 20 European countries are expected to attend.
Topics on the agenda reflect many of the shared priorities for botanic gardens today, including climate resilience, biodiversity loss, plant collecting, safeguarding rare and useful plants, horticultural innovation, and finding new ways to connect communities with the natural world.
Hosting the meeting highlights CUBG as an internationally connected garden contributing to plant science, conservation and public engagement. It also provides an opportunity to build new partnerships and share CUBG’s own work on the data ecosystem concept with colleagues from across Europe.
